A LORRY driver whose £1m cigarette cargo was allegedly stolen in a fake heist told a court he complied with the raiders after they threatened his family.

Brian Fogg is on trial for two counts of conspiracy to steal.

Prosecutors say far from being a victim, Fogg was the willing inside man in a fake robbery.

Yesterday, Fogg said two thickset Ulstermen accosted him on a ferry weeks before the attack and said: “Do as you’re told and no-one gets hurt.”

Fogg’s trailer of cigarettes was taken from Hapsford services, near Chester, after he collected them from Birkenhead docks.

The 47-year-old, of Draperfield, Chorley, denies the charges.

His wife Janet Fogg, 45, also of Draperfield, Chorley, denies two counts in relation to allegedly helping him launder the proceeds.

Fogg, giving evidence on the seventh day of his trial at Chester crown court said the Northern Irish pair approached him on a Stenna Line ferry from Holland to Killingholme, Humberside.

He added: “It was just an ordinary trip. We had come back from Holland, come on board no problems.

“I went to the cabin and as I went up the stairs, I was approached by two men. They said ‘we know you work for Montgomery’s’.

“One was thickset – big neck on him, powerful lad. The other was tall. They had Northern Irish accents.”

Fogg said when he opened his cabin door and went in, they rushed in after him.

He added: “They said ‘we know you’re on the cigarette run. You’re going to do as you’re told’. I said ‘what?’, then one of them got the phone. It was a Nokia N95 and they had a picture of Janet, my daughter Steph and my grandchild Kyle outside my house in Chorley.

“They said ‘you’re going to do as you’re told and no-one’s going to get hurt’.”

But Owen Edwards, prosecuting, told Fogg: “The truth is you are willing to lie at any occasion. The truth is you are a consummate liar.

“The truth is you are an inventive liar. The truth is you are a dramatic liar.”

The cigarette heist happened on August 8, 2008.

Almost a year before, Fogg claimed he was robbed of more than £300,000 of razor blades near Wolverhampton.